'to do' list...

I blogged awhile back about finding so many fun things to make while I was blogstalking. And, if you've been keeping up, you'll recall the whole point of this blog was to inspire my creativity (and then, hopefully actually DO something...) 

Of course, I haven't made any of the things I've found yet. I still have curtains that I started for B's room laying on the floor waiting to be finished. And four canvases, stretched and gessoed, but not yet painted. Yes people... he's 5 months old now. And I started that all at least a month before he was born. 

I now have 5 weeks of summer left before school starts (p.s. only have to go back three days a week! woohoo!), so my goal is to at least get the curtains finished and canvases painted. 

BUT, here are a few of the other things I'd like to make in that time.... wish me luck!

Isn't this rope bracelet from sew.craft.create. cool?
Looking forward to finding some funky buttons for mine!

Make It and Love It had this idea for a scarf... maybe I can get that done by fall?

Another one from sew.craft.create.... 

from Under The Table and Dreaming
These could be a neat gift... or cool to put on my desk at school with pics of my sweethearts!

from Under The Table and Dreaming
LOVE this wall art... made with SHIMS!

and this also from Under The Table and Dreaming
cheap and very retro looking!

if I'm being honest, this one from Plucky Momo is probably the least likely to happen...
only because B is already getting too old for it, and it looks like a lot of work..... remember the curtains and canvases?
But seriously... how cool is it!! Maybe someday for baby #2?

i LOVE dr. seuss, and this wall art from Artsy-Fartsy is super cute!

Antsi-Pants.... this is one of the TOPS on my to-do list!
My man used to sing this to me to be funny when we first started dating...
and I think it would be perfect in our living room! 

Bryce's nursery theme is owls (of course, it's unfinished...)
and this snuggly owl (in more boyish colors, of course) from Make It and Love It
would be a perfect finishing touch! (Assuming it ever gets finished!)

And finally... how cute is this Felt Toy Truck from Make It and Love It????
I want to make one for my little guy, but also for my nephew.
The blog suggests making it to go along with truck themed books for Christmas... excellent idea!! 

Please check out these awesome blogs, and follow Chasing Fireflies to see if I get any of these things done anytime soon! :)

my guys...

I <3 editing pictures of my guys... 

Look at that face.... simply adorable. :)

And together... they melt my heart. Cheesy, I know... but true. Love them both BuNcHeS!!!

a day at the beach...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the first time in six years... I was able to enjoy the beach of Lake Michigan in the U.P.... in the summer.... in a swimsuit! (In the past, it's been so cold I've been bundled in a sweatshirt and jeans!)

So, we took advantage of the beautiful day, and got some shots of our feet on the beach. I am a fan of foot shots - our favorite engagement pic was one of our feet... so we need some with B's feet now too!

I was so excited to share the beach for the first time with Bryce Krispie Treats! At five months old, he seems to love the water! And sand.... and while cleaning off those long fingers, he got a splash in the face by a wave... surprised him a little, but didn't seem to phase him.

So here are a couple of our family foot shots. :)

Enjoy............ and Embrace the Camera! :)

up north...

My hubby went up north (Michigan's U.P.) every summer for many years, and he's made it our tradition for the last several years as well.

We just got back, so I thought I'd share some of the fun pics I took and edited while I was there! Visiting the Upper Peninsula is a little like stepping back in time 50 years... so I used some vintage looking edits on a few of the pictures. Enjoy!

Crossing the Mackinac Bridge... we're almost there!! :)

B's first boat ride on Millecoquin Lake

fishin' boats

the "yellow cabins"

'Little hand'... Daddy & Bryceroni headin' to the boat

color your summer 2...

A few weeks ago I blogged about a photography contest I was going to do... Snapfish's Color Your Summer contest.

Here are my submissions for Green:

This is Sprout... our wild deer. ;) 

And my baby boy... usually he's super smiley, so this picture shows a more serious side. 

kisses...

Lovin' up on my Peanut Butter! 

I was trying out the SLR camera that I bought at least 6 years ago and never learned how to use... it's never too late, right?? After searching for a store that still does film processing, I got them on a cd, edited with some actions and this is what I got. Even though we're out of focus, I think it turned out kinda cool!

Embrace your little ones... and an old camera! :)
And follow this link:

http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/2011/06/embrace-camera-june-23rd.html

gettin' some action...

So, since I've been on this Photoshop Elements kick... I've found that there are actions that can do really cool things to your photos. Didn't know this before! So I'm on a mission to find some cool freebies. 

And I did! The following picture is edited using some that I've found... here's the original. 

A selfie, taken in Chicago last winter

Here's the first edit...

Used MCP Mini Fusion, PW Fresh Color & Bring out the eyes

Then I started with that one to do these other edits....

Added PW Warmer & Boost

PW Black & White Beauty

PW Vintage & Sepia Tone (and upped the contrast)

PW Heartland, Edge Burn (upped contrast)

I think my favorite - PW Seventies with Edge Burn

What's your favorite??? 

dad's day...

Check out these two handsome men....

Still trying to figure out how I got so lucky!

LOVE them!

Happy 1st Dad's Day, Babe! :)

color your summer contest...

Just entered the Color Your Summer contest on Snapfish.... http://summer.snapfish.com/

Super easy - you sign in, enter up to 5 pictures for each color (one color is announced per week).

The first week is blue and I submitted a couple of my edited pictures - this one and this one. You can see and comment on my entries here, too!

If you submit a picture for each color, you get a free 5x7 soft cover photo book... and if you win the grandprize, you get an HP mini computer and HP all-in-one printer!

I realize my chances of winning the grand prize are slim to none... there are about 5 billion entries already.... but I'm excited about a photo challenge for myself with a small prize at the end!

If you enter, post a link in my comments so I can see your pictures too! Good luck! :)

old timey photo...

Playing with Photoshop Elements today and I think I ended up adding some old-time-y-ness (yes, that's a word!) to this picture... kinda cool... don't know if I'd frame it........ the original is awesome as it is... look at that smile behind the paci! :)

before

after

a little blurb...

Here's a shout-out to my favorite bookmaking site, Blurb.com. 

I've now made four books on this site, and it is hands down the best quality and value! 

My newest book is the first of MANY baby photo books to come... 

Sorry the  pic is blurry, Mommy needs a new camera!

All you do is download the Booksmart program, upload your pictures into it, and start editing. You just drag and drop your pics, change background colors if you like, and add some text. So easy! 

First page of 162 pages

You can use their pre-made layouts and themes, or create your own! Of course it's a little time consuming if you care what it looks like.... but I believe it's WAY less time consuming and CHEAPER than scrapbooking (and there's less of a mess too!) 

You can add as many pages as you want, with as many pictures as you want per page. This book was about 162 pages and it cost around $50. I put nearly 500 pictures in it! What a deal!

See all those faces on one page?
I figure about $.03 a picture... now imagine printing
each of those, cutting them up, and scrapbooking?!
Way more time & money involved... I'm just saying. :)

I've done hard & soft covers, with the image wrap, and with a sleeve.... all are fantastic! 

I'm so excited to be able to hand down these professional looking books to my kids when they are grown! 

Make your own at blurb.com!

i've got moxi...

I'm so excited to share my first official paid logo design... for my favorite salon, Moxi Salon & Spa in Napoleon, Ohio.

Check out how fantastic it looks on the sign in front of the salon!

If you happen to be near Napoleon, Ohio... call for an appointment!

a blog post about blog stalking...

I've been "blogging" for about two weeks now.... and I have a million ideas running through my head with very little time to do any of them. So when I do have a few minutes (and I do mean a few, since Bryce-chex likes to catnap throughout the day) do I do one of the ideas I've found?? No! I sit here and blog stalk for more ideas. It is so addicting!!!

So, to all of you with awesome crafty ideas for me (for example... http://www.sewcraftcreate.com/ and http://www.makeit-loveit.com/ and http://www.iheartnaptime.net/...... just to name a few) THANK YOU! And hopefully someday I'll actually make the cute things that you are showing me how to do!

Until then... if you're reading this... check out the blogs above, and get creating! And follow Chasing Fireflies, just in case I get the motivation to *MaKe* instead of *StALk*. :)

hat making 101...

Well, as I said before, Bryce is 4 months old now... and I'm not sure if it's because his head is too small, or because hat-makers don't know the appropriate size of a baby's head... but I cannot find a bucket hat that fits him. SO - because my first thought is always "I could make that" - I decided to make him one.


Now, before I show you what I made... let it be known that this is the second time I decided to make him a hat since he was born. This picture may explain why my hubby wasn't extremely excited when I told him about my plans to make another. In fact, even though we're strapping for cash since I've been on unpaid maternity leave... he actually reminded me that we could buy one at the store. No faith.

Yes... it was supposed to be a crocheted beanie. Instead he looks like a gnome. Poor guy.


BUT, it had been YEARS since I'd crocheted anything. And I sew semi-frequently... so I figured I could pull this one off.


I started by finding a circle pattern that would fit B's head.... this lid was perfect!

Next, I found a pair of my husbands old camo shorts (and checked with him to make sure I could cut them up!)

Okay, making a bucket hat is WAY more difficult than it looks, without a pattern. Here's my first attempt. I ended up tearing out the brim and redoing it... but now that I look at the picture, I kind of miss this one. It really looks like the modern bucket hats you see on gap.com.

The problem? I used the bottom hem of his shorts for the brim, but it didn't flare out the way a bucket hat's brim usually does. Apparently it's supposed to be rounded, not straight? So here's my final product. I cut the brim out of the shorts material and did a lot more sewing than I had to on the 'modern' looking one. Then I added the belt loops for some detail.

Here's B wearing his new hat.

And here's the B-man's face when I told him about all of the other things I'm going to try to make him.... haha!

so excited about this one...

In my search for photography stuff on the Internet, I've come across a bunch of photo challenges....


My first? Walk exactly ten minutes from home and take a picture of whatever you see there.


There wasn't much... a field... and this telephone pole.

Then I edited the picture just by playing around with the different features of PSE - ended up adding a linear burn layer and then converting to vivid landscape black and white. 

I think the end result is amazing!

So... what would you take a picture of if you walked 10 minutes from home???

playin' in the dirt

Bryce is four months old today! Can't believe how fast time has gone... and I figured in celebration of being four months old, he should get to play in the dirt. Okay, really... I just thought it would be a cool picture. And no, I didn't make him lay there on the old, hard corn stalk pieces for very long. It was probably less than a minute. He did get one teeny tiny scratch, but check out this super awesome picture I got! So worth it. :)

before I used my mad editing skills...

after... check out that dutch angle.... i know, i'm a pro